Ongoing infighting crippling Mnquma
DEJA VU. That is how best to describe the political instability that has gripped the Butterworth-based Mnquma municipality for five months.
The local authority has a history of mayors being voted out of the hot seat by rival ANC factions.
In the latest episode, mayor Thobeka Bikitsha was voted out by a faction aligned to municipal manager Sindile Tantsi and replaced by Tobakazi Ntanga.
Factional politics also saw former mayors Mbulelo Ntenjwa and Ndyebo Skelenge being kicked out of office.
And every time, service delivery takes a back seat as the politicians jostle for power.
The current instability has not been an exception as projects have stalled as a result of the infighting that started in August.
The two factions are also in and out of court as they try to get their way. And lawyers do not come cheap.
Making matters worse is that Butterworth, Ngqamakhwe and Centane taxpayers are footing that never-ending legal bill.
Control of the municipality means control of the purse, so it is highly unlikely that any faction will go down without a fight.
While the ANC in the Eastern Cape appears to be in full support of Bikitsha, whom it deployed to the mayorship, the other faction appears confident too.
This is because there are scheduled Amathole regional and provincial elective conferences next month and in June. Any leader with ambitions of being re-elected into any of the structures would be reluctant to act against wrongdoers as this might result in a loss of support.
We are likely to know what action, if any, will be taken against the ANC caucus in Mnquma when the party’s provincial working committee delivers its verdict tomorrow on how it plans to arrest the “anarchy”, as provincial secretary Oscar Mabuyane calls it.
Perhaps the best thing to do would be to dissolve the whole council, as the DA has suggested to cooperative governance and traditional affairs MEC Fikile Xasa.
On Friday DA provincial chairwoman Veliswa Mvenya, a Mnquma native, said: “The DA is calling on MEC Xasa to intervene urgently. If he cannot resolve this conflict, he should dissolve the council and call for fresh elections.”
There have been fears that the chaos in Mnquma might result in a deadly outcome.
Last week it turned violent. Shots were fired, people were injured and insults hurled on Tuesday when the two factions clashed.
This was after Bikitsha’s group went to the municipal offices to remove Tantsi as her faction had resolved in a council meeting to terminate with immediate effect his employment contract. The two groups then clashed, resulting in bloodshed outside municipal headquarters. —